Racism

What does racism look like in your community?

  • Little representation in lawmaking community
  • Very polite racism; exclusion going on but not stated outright
  • Man in comm. Did anti-mosque mass mailing
  • People easily swayed by stereotypes
  • Personal experience of name-calling
  • Passive aggressive experience in local attitudes
  • Rarely see white people speak up in situations, or don’t know how to respond
  • Kids end up naturally self-segregating; families don’t work on reaching out
  • Denied a loan by just asking for more paperwork/delaying; silent refusing to act or say no
  • If would like to have respect, must respect others. Difficult to begin conversations if don’t understand
  • There is also blatant aggressions experienced by local POC
  • Working within family
  • Seeing police in other communities with higher minorities
  • More similarities in racism across nation than people think
  • Be an interruption, advocate for POC to be at tables and make decisions, then as white people, step away so they can lead
  • Undoing institutional racism training. “Gatekeeping”
  • Believe POC when they speak on their experience
  • Terminology of “old Everett” as the paper brokers
  • Mostly white neighborhood
  • “We’re so white”
  • Labeled by appearance
  • Symbols – confederate flag
  • Non-Acceptance of difference
  • Not as overt
  • Stereotypes, assumptions
  • Fear, safety issues
  • Microaggressions
  • “Tribes don’t exist”
  • Inequalities, white privilege
  • Islamophobia
  • Silent government officials
    Institutions
    Religious organizations
  • False idealism – “Racism is not here”
  • Education system
  • Talking with children
  • Exclusion
  • Denial
  • No understanding of experiences
  • Lack of intersectionality
  • Outsource to government
  • Limited tools/skills
  • Law enforcement agencies
  • Lack of accountability
  • Disproportional leadership
  • Racism is something parents teach
  • Learned behavior
  • Woven into each persons lived experience, roots. Connected to age, family, geography
  • Cannot progress unless we admit it EXISTS
  • It starts with You (take responsibility)
  • Language/Questions “What are you?”
  • Not much social intercourse between groups
  • Assumptions about people/groups of color
  • White America needs to commit to dismantling racism
  • (White people, progressives) could get beyond complaining and reporting and go out and ally ourselves with people and issues that could use (need?) us
  • Racism embedded and covered by pressure to be patriotic and nice, polite
  • License to be overtly racist
  • See Eliminationists - David Neiwert
  • Local culture: “nice/nice.” Complacency, passive aggressive behavior. Must start speaking up, also “move out the way.”
  • “Accomplice” not “ally”
    (willing to put ass on line)
  • Church involvement
  • Doesn’t show up – Is hidden behind excuses
  • Subtle behaviors making people feel unwelcomed
  • Hiring practices of organizations – Committees screening people put – Discrimination
  • Us – Them conversations
  • Post elections behaviors – Threats of deportation
  • Receiving different treatment when financing for buying a house
  • Unequal treatment of media portrayal of POC as “less than”
  • Making assumptions based on a person’s name – Not American
  • Masking racism in terms of concern about terrorism
  • Feeling that you have to deny your heritage/culture to be accepted
  • Threat of racial profiling w/ law enforcement

Racism in Criminal Justice = Big Impact

  • Hard to perceive because of legal abstraction
  • Healthcare is a leading voice in these issues
  • How quality is the police de-escalation in our cities?
    Experience = better training
    State training available

What would it look like in your community if things were better?

  • No nasty, prejudiced hate mail
  • Wouldn’t feel fear
  • People with different perspectives would be able to have real conversations
  • Run for office to make a difference
  • Equity and balance would be visible in all areas of life
  • More inclusive curriculum in school
    Would be able to judge/decide on which politicians to choose based on their abilities, not money they’ve raised
  • Equity- Pay teachers a living wage
  • People would feel comfortable speaking out when “bad” things happen
  • No income gap
  • Access to education for everyone
  • Common language
  • Equity in safety
  • Understanding through listening
  • No confederate flags/hate symbols
  • More POC in community
  • Less segregation
  • More POC in government, schools, leadership
  • Community events
  • Poverty, incarnation rates